Bevel lets you take 3D photos with your smartphone

What do you look for in a smartphone camera? Optical image stabilisation? Burst mode? How about 3D pictures?

This device gives your smartphone snapper the latter. It’s called Bevel, and it’s made by Matter and Form (formerly Matterform), who are the people behind a highly affordable 3D scanner. And it looks very easy to use.

Just plug it into the headphone socket on your smartphone or tablet, then pan around your subject while you take a photo. Hey presto – 3D pictures!

Why would you want a 3D photo? Obviously it has a lot more depth than a standard 2D snap. But the really cool thing is you can 3D print them. So snap away, then you can make 3D models of your friends, co-workers and family. Or maybe your pets.

It works using a laser, though there’s no more information except that it’s safe for your eyes, so it’s not going to blind you. And it’s compatible with Android and iOS devices.

Once you’ve snapped, you can share your 3D pic with people in your contacts list, or upload it to a social network.

To be honest, the 3D pictures look a little strange to us, but maybe that’s because they’re early versions and not the finished article. It’d be useful to see how they’d look once they’ve been 3D printed. Then we could see if it’s worth making action figures of our family members.

If it passes its funding goal, it will ship in January. You can snap one up for $49.